Our Tips for International Literacy Day

International Literacy Day is an annual event which is celebrated on September 8th. Its mission is to open up literacy for everyone. The theme for this year’s International Literacy Day is ‘Literacy in a digital world’.

This is a global literacy event, recognised across the world, and its aim this year is to explore and increase awareness around what kind of literacy skills young people need in order to progress and thrive in today’s digital world.

International Literacy Day brings together governments, educational organizations, NGOs, communities, teachers, learners and education thought leaders. It is an annual event which celebrates literacy achievements and opens up the dialogue around how to address challenges and opportunities for promoting literacy.

We can see that digital opportunities are re-defining the way children think and learn and digital technologies are changing the way we work and communicate. The digital landscape provides exciting new opportunities for people to advance their lives – whether that be through access to information and knowledge, the ability to socialise and communicate or for teachers and educators to advance teaching and learning.

Apps provide opportunities for advancement in all these areas of the digital world and it is vital for young people to be digitally literate in order to take advance of all that is on offer to them.

Literacy is one area that can be enhanced through the use of apps, so hereare our top tips for promoting digital literacy – as ever with a digital twist!

1) Closing the Literacy Gap: There is still a huge gap between students who leave school with the knowledge and skills to progress to higher educational or the workplace and those that do not. Many students are still not gaining the basic literacy requirements of reading or writing, often because of specific learning challenges. Apps and digital technologies offer a solution for many teachers and learners, with personalised learning platforms providing students with more opportunities to achieve success. See some of our best apps for Special Educational needs here.

2) Bringing People Together: In the age of social media and digital communication, apps can bring students together in a learning and social capacity too. Communication is an often over-looked aspect of literacy. Apps such as Popplet provide a solution for peer-to-peer learning, which is a huge motivator, and can provide a platform for opening up communication and collaboration between diverse groups of students.

3) Celebrating Success: Research shows that timely feedback has a significant impact on learning, and students who receive feedback from both home and school are at an advantage. When teachers and parents are in communication, it’s a win-win. Digital solutions for home-school communication are great for all those invested in a child’s literacy learning and so apps like Snap can transform how teachers keep parents in the literacy loop!

4) Sparking Imagination: Students are not short of imagination but sometimes they need a bit of a ‘leg up’ when it comes to creative writing, especially when it comes to structuring their ideas. Writing Challenge for Kids is a fun and simple-to-use app that can help spark the imagination of children, and then supports them with the planning and writing process. Through a range of prompts children develop their stories and structure them with settings and characters.

5) Key to the Keyboard: navigating the keyboard is a important literacy – as well as life – skill and, in order for children to become proficient, they should develop keyboard skills from a young age. There are lots of good keyboard and typing apps, some suitable for children with specific learning challenges such as dyslexia. Keyboard Fun is a great app for young children as it not only helps to establish typing skills, but also help with fine motor skills too.